Written question asked by Lord Herbert of South Downs (Conservative) on Tuesday, 18 December 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 January 2008. It was answered by Jack Straw (Labour) on Monday, 21 January 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Prisons

Question: (5) pursuant to his statement of 5 December 2007, Official Report, on the Carter review of prisons, how much of the £1.2 billion for prisons will be available in each financial year up to 2014 for (a) capital construction and (b) resource spending;

Answer

I announced on 5 December 2007 a programme for building 10,500 prison places to be delivered by 2014. This was in response to Lord Carter's Review on Prisons Securing the Future. The programme includes building up to three large 'Titan' prisons, housing around 2,500 prisoners each and closing old and inefficient prisons. The cost of construction (including development and design but not land) of the Titan prisons has been estimated to be around £350 million each at 2007-08 prices.The indicative funding profile for this programme for the CSR period 2008-09 to 2010-11 is shown in the following table. The table also includes provision for the purchase of land for Titans and for the possible conversion of a second military camp that has been provisionally allocated to the post 2011 SR period and will be subject to the usual SR process.

£ million
	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	Total
Resource	126.0	213.0	166.0	—	505.0
Capital	326.0	183.0	¹-10.0	—	499.0

Military camp (if required)	—	—	—	108.0	108.0
Land purchase for Titans	—	—	—	122.0	122.0
Total	452.0	396.0	156.0	230.0	1,234.0
¹ -£10 million represents funding moved into earlier years to allow faster progress on the programme.

Around £700 million is estimated for the building and conversion of new places at existing prison sites. This is included in the aforementioned table. Funding does not include the construction and operating costs of the Titan prisons which are planned to open after 2011. This will also be subject to the usual SR process.Sites have been identified for quick build units within the prison estate and are subject to the usual planning process. However, planning for the individual projects (which includes Titans), including the delivery timeframe and capital and resource requirements in each year, is being developed. Work is progressing to assess the various procurement options and associated costs to deliver Titan prisons.The Carter Report (pages 19-20) gave estimates of a range of capital unit cost per place for the various security categories of prisoner accommodation. Currently the estimated capital cost of the programme announced on 5 December is £2.3 billion including the current CSR period and beyond.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 470 c1666-8W; 176664
Session: 2007-08
Related items: Prisons (Carter Review)
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
Parliamentary proceedings
House of Commons
Subjects: Prisons
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Prisons

Secondary information

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